HENDERSONVILLE – Henderson County is set to lose out on $12.7 million in funding previously earmarked for a sewer expansion project in Edneyville.
County Commissioners objected Nov. 3 to an Oct. 21 move by the North Carolina General Assembly to transfer the money to another project instead, one which they said cannot be completed before a strict deadline to spend the money.
The specific pot of money, from the American Recovery Plan Act of 2021, will evaporate if it can’t all be used by the end of next year, and the wastewater treatment plant in Etowah, which the money is now committed to, can’t be finished by then, commissioners said.
“(The General Assembly has) moved $12.7 million from a viable project to a project that it can’t be used on,” County Engineer Marcus Jones told commissioners at a Nov. 3 meeting.
“It’s gone, that $12.7 million. It’s not going to use for anything in Henderson County,” Board Chair Bill Lapsley said.
NC Senate Bill 449 moved the money meant to fund the Clear Creek Sewer to the Etowah Sewer Wastewater Treatment Plant Oct. 22, for reasons commissioners say aren't entirely clear to them.
Commissioners blasted state Rep. Jennifer Balkcom and state Sen. Tim Moffitt, who voted for it.
“(There was) no phone call, no text, no email, no communication whatsoever from Raleigh” before or after the bill passed, Commissioner Rebecca McCall said.
“To be slapped around like this is uncalled for and unnecessary … unprecedented in my 10 years on the board,” Lapsley said of the General Assembly's decision.
The county has already spent $2 million, including on surveying, planning, design engineering and easements, he said.
The county is now simply $2 million in the hole, Jones told the Times-News after the meeting.
The county bought the Etowah Sewer Wastewater Treatment Plant from a private operator earlier this year.
By all accounts, the badly dilapidated Etowah plant must be rebuilt, and soon, because of a state mandate to upgrade the facility upon reaching 90% capacity.
“In my professional opinion, there’s zero ability for us to get (the Etowah) project anywhere near constructed by Dec. 31, 2026,” however, Jones said.
The Clear Creek Sewer Project has been in the works since 2017, originally proposed to serve Edneyville Elementary School. The school is operating under a temporary permit from the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality, which means it can’t expand its student body without connecting to a public sewer system, Jones said.
Edneyville Elementary is the last school in the county not connected to a public sewer, County Manager John Mitchell told the Times-News after the meeting.
The board awarded a construction contract of almost $14 million Oct. 15, on the condition that it be completed before the end of next year.
That contractor’s bid was good for 60 days, Jones said.
After that, the bid would need to be renegotiated and might go up, Lapsley said.
The other roughly $4.3 million available comes from other American Rescue Plan Act funding and the county’s capital reserve, Jones said.
Lapsley laid out three options moving forward if the General Assembly didn’t reverse its move to transfer the money between the projects: “terminate the entire contract and start over … redirect funds from our general fund … (or) reduce the scope of the work.”
Rep. Balkcom defended her support of the funding change.
“The General Assembly made the financially responsible decision to reallocate funding from the Edneyville sewer project to address the Etowah system that Henderson County now owns. When the county purchased the Etowah system, it also assumed responsibility and liability for maintaining and improving it,” she told the Times-News in a Nov. 4 email.
Balkcom told commissioners she came to the decision to support the funding change after hearing from Edneyville landowners concerned about increased development along the new sewer line, Lapsley said. Balkcom did not address a Times-News question asking her to confirm that.
Sen. Moffitt couldn’t be reached for comment by deadline.
Commissioner Sheila Franklin told the Times-News after the meeting that commissioners plan to meet with legislators Nov. 6 and she’s hopeful that the General Assembly may reverse course.
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George Fabe Russell is the Henderson County Reporter for the Hendersonville Times-News. Tips, questions, comments? Email him at [email protected].
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